The State is readying corona-care centres near all airports as per the directive of the Centre to provide a ‘‘safe environment for those arrivals who may need to be housed overnight” while completing the universal airport screening.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Saturday that preparations were already on to identify and ready suitable locations. The Centre had on March 12 issued a directive to all States to establish quarantine centres “that can house 500 to 2,000 people or more in the vicinity of airports”, with CCTV monitoring, to quarantine nationals coming from those countries which are reporting large number of COVID -9 cases and deaths.
Mr. Vijayan said the district administration will be in touch with private hospitals to rope in their support to ensure that proper isolation facilities with ICUs and ventilator support can be additionally arranged.
He announced tightened measures for surveillance at railway stations, airports and border points. Train passengers would be screened at designated points by a three-member team under a Superintendent of Police, which will include a local body representative and health personnel. Similar checking would be held at 24 border points on the roads across the State. Vehicles would be stopped to screen passengers.
Home quarantine
Though people arriving from foreign nations without apparent symptoms were being put on home quarantine, what actual “home quarantine” entails seems to have been lost on people. This is despite the massive awareness campaigns run by the Health Department that home quarantine entails isolating oneself in home, just as one would if they had contracted chicken pox.
This meant confining oneself to a self-contained room, with little or no contact with other family members. Unless this is followed strictly, more people have to be admitted to isolation facilities, creating unnecessary strain on hospitals.
